Thinking Of Leaving Your PPC Agency? Not So Fast

When someone tells me they're leaving their agency, I cringe a little.

Not because I think they're wrong to be frustrated, that I understand. Because I already know what usually happens next: they go hire a new agency that does the exact same thing.

The conversation almost always starts the same way. "Performance is down, let's find a new agency." Or, "I just don't think they're actually doing what they say they're doing." So they switch to a new agency. And six or twelve months later, they're back in the same spot, just with a different logo on the invoice.

And the funny thing is I one time consulted to an agency that just took the money and accepted that fact.

Here's the part nobody wants to hear: the issue usually isn't that specific agency. It's the price point you're paying, and the hands-off mentality that comes with it, where you hire someone and then look away completely. I've said this for years. The business has to be involved in its own ads. A new agency doesn't fix that. It just resets the clock on the same problem.

The PPC (Google Ads) Agency Broke Under You, Not The Other Way Around

The honest truth is that at certain budgets, the agency model itself doesn't work, no matter who you hire.

That's not a "find the right agency" problem.

It's a structural one.

At that point you really have three options: get involved and learn to do it yourself, pay significantly more for real senior-level attention, or get an honest, unbiased second look at your Google Ads before you do anything else.

I genuinely believe that last option is easier than most people think, and it's a much smaller leap than firing someone and starting an agency search all over again.

A Lacrosse Ball Story

I had a lead come to me twice, a year apart, having completely forgotten they'd already reached out to me once before.

They sold lacrosse balls in bulk to schools.

Sounds simple. It wasn't.

They were competing directly with Amazon, and schools were buying through catalog relationships that overlapped in ways that had nothing to do with Google Ads at all.

There were so many layers to that business, the competitive landscape, the catalog purchasing process, where schools actually shop, that the real problem was never "we need better PPC management."

Their ad spend was too low to justify an agency in the first place.

I told them no. Both times. The first time I tried to convince them to do my Build & Train service. They would have been perfect for that and had the aptitude to learn. The second time I think I just didn’t do a proposal after the conversation.

What they actually needed wasn't a new PPC vendor, and it wasn't going to be me managing their account either.

It was someone inside the business who understood those layers well enough to make smart decisions, because no outside agency, no matter how good, was going to hold that much business-specific nuance for an account with that complexity.

They were an overwhelmed business owner looking for the perfect agency to fix a problem an agency was never going to fix.

Why I Normally Tell Leads To Hold Off

I'll admit I'm biased here, but when someone's working with a smaller budget, I almost always tell them to hold off on hiring anyone and start with Google Ads consulting instead.

It's the best way I know for a lower-budget account to get real, high-level strategy without paying for a team they don't need. When it's just me advising you, you're not hiring a cheap babysitter to watch over a checklist. You're getting someone who's actually thinking about your account.

The Real Sign You Are Ready For Google Ads Consulting

It's not frustration.

Everyone gets frustrated with their agency eventually, that alone doesn't mean anything's actually about to change.

The real sign is when you stop asking "which agency should I switch to" and start recognizing that the pattern itself, the hand-off, the price point, the hoping someone else will just take care of it, is what's broken.

That's the moment something different actually works: doing it yourself with real guidance, bringing it in-house with training, or paying properly for senior-level help instead of a checklist.

If you're not sure which one you are yet, get an honest second look at your ads before you sign anything else. It's a much smaller step than firing your agency and hoping the next one is different.

Or just reach out to me and tell me your issue and I will make a suggestion.